island fowlers.

(little travelers. they're really great in the car.)

we went to jekyll island for a few days last week.

island life was wonderful,

but it was also a typical fowler vacation with all the complications.

(our main mode of transportation.)

we endured mosquito attacks like nothing i've ever seen! at one point, we had both girls in jogging strollers on a trail and we decided to run for it because they were just swarming us like crazy. life was an action movie for about five minutes, and the mosquitoes were the enemy. daddy stopped when he thought we were safe, but i was behind and saw at least a dozen mosquitoes land on his back immediately. "don't stop! they're on us!" i yelled. we ran until we were clear of all vegetation before stopping again. sheeeesh.
we spent a lot of our time walking with the girls in strollers and most of that time we were bugged (ha ha) by the island pests, even using spray. we realized we didn't see a lot of people walking, most were riding bikes. the mosquitoes can't really attack when you are going that fast. we were sitting ducks. oh well, now we know.

ellie was so excited about the ocean after our visit in the late winter, but we didn't realize that she had never actually been in the ocean. she hated it. poppy dealt with it, but she preferred to not be hit by waves. ellie loved the tide pools but would not go in the waves as they were breaking. we carried her screaming out into the water far enough that the waves weren't crashing and she was okay... but for the rest of the time we enjoyed the sand and shells rather than the water. i didn't even get pictures of us playing in the ocean.



it was mostly a party, though.

driftwood beach was fun because there is a lot more to explore than the terrifying waves, and really, that's one reason why we wanted to go. we found lots of shells and saw a lot of wildlife. some people even caught a stingray while we were there. ellie had fun in a shade-fly that someone had left and called it her "treehouse."

("the egg" above the hotel)

we spent some quality time in our freeeeeeezing hotel room, cuddled up and watching cartoons with daddy. ellie loved it so much that she kept asking when we were going back to "our room" for more cartoons (i think she just liked the special dada time).

ellie loved the walks and even jogged with us. so much energy! too bad i can't wear her out at the beach every day.

i also thought poppy would never sleep outside of her stroller again.
how can you not smile back at that face?

 (we drove home at sunrise. hard to leave it, especially at the most beautiful time of day.)

i had really needed that break. i felt like i had stalled.  i came back refreshed and exhausted, but excited to get going again, though.

which is perfect, because we have plenty going. poppy is working on a friend for her lonely little tooth and ellie has spent her first full week pacifier-free.
she keeps saying "i had a rough day."
you're telling me, kid!



i hope to be back with some ellie quotes and a poppy post, because she's 8 months today and she is getting to be so grown-up. let's be honest, though, somebody has been kicking me in the back the whole time i wrote this post and somebody else tried to eat dog food soooo...
like i said, i hope i can do it. :)

(ellie's "wizard clouds")